This darkly humorous, deeply demented 1964 curiosity is a genuine cult phenomenon, one with a reputation that grows by the year. By the time it came out in 1968, hardly anyone cared. However, it's subsequently found an audience, so today we can enjoy it on a rather well-assembled Blu-ray.

It's usually classed as a horror film or a B-movie but this slice of American gothic doesn't fit neatly into either category. It concerns the Merrye family, a clan so inbred they have a rare malady named after them. Merrye syndrome affects one branch of this rotten family tree, causing regression ("A progressive deterioration of the mental faculty … a rotting of the brain, so to speak") to set in as they reach adolescence. Kept sequestered in a dilapidated house, three afflicted youngsters are protected by custodian Bruno (the great Lon Chaney Jr), who, barring the occasional slaughtered postman, keeps them under control. But when other family members come snooping, things escalate to murderous insanity, and an unforgettable, unsettling dinner scene with roast cat and bug stew on the menu, which seems to have inspired scenes in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Eraserhead. Director Jack Hill went on to make plenty of classic exploitation movies, such as the more marketable Foxy Brown (reissued next week) and Switchblade Sisters, but Spider Baby is him at his trashy, most eccentric best.

Blu-ray & DVD, Arrow

Hitchcock

Drama about Psycho. Hopkins and Mirren are great as Mr and Mrs Hitch; the director, however, ain't no Hitchcock.

Blu-ray & DVD, Fox

To The Wonder

Terrence Malick delivers another succession of beautiful images and captured moments in this sombre tale of love and faith.